As a Kid
When my sister and I were pre-teen, we would go door-to-door in the neighborhood for trick-or-treat. I don’t think we went more than three houses in either direction along Highway N. When I was older, I also did “Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF”. I had an orange cardboard box that people could drop in coins. I only ever gathered a couple of dollars.
One year the local movie theater in Luck, Wisconsin held a costume contest. My mother sewed together a Snoopy costume out of spare cloth. The kids would stand on the theater stage to be judged. I was one of the winners.
As an Adult
When I worked for Citicorp Mortgage at the Mason Ridge location in Chesterfield, we had a Halloween costume contest between departments. The year the Credit Policy Department won (1989), a co-worker and I dressed up as Hans and Franz, two characters that appeared in skits on Saturday Night Live. I already had the gray sweats. I stuffed mine with cotton stuffing we had laying around the house. Tied rubber bands around my joints to make the cotton look more like muscles.
When I worked for Ferguson Consulting, Inc., we had a company party. I went as Gene Simmons in his KISS rock band makeup. That’s a cheap broom I spray painted gray and added black dots for knobs and fret bars. Elaine found a stick-on tattoo. I bought black grease paint especially mean to make up a face, lips, and fingernails as one of the members of KISS. Costume jewelry courtesy of Elaine’s collection. For some reason, we already had the black wig.
Subdivision Hay Ride
Every year a farmer gathers the kids together at the end of our subdivision road. They and their parents sits on a hay wagon as he drives them along the road from one end to the other. People giving out candy can see the tractor coming and get their candy ready. This is convenient because within five minutes, all the candy is handed out and there is no longer a need to wait for the doorbell to ring. After the hay ride is over, everyone gathers at the farm maintenance shed for hot chocolate, hot dogs, and visiting.
